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Thursday, November 6, 2008

Equipment Malfunction.

I began the Election Evening by cracking into my 10 day old Mild.

It has been on gas for 24 hours at 30 psi. Carb level is great, just right for a mild, but a bit low for me. I have a tendency to like to start a bit over carbonated and a bit too cold, and let the flavors bloom as a beer warms and off gasses. I was very impressed with the flavor and body of this little mild. I would say that it is entirely too roasty for my taste, and I will completely cut the chocolate malt in the next batch. I again sampled the Fullers ESB, and Stone Levitation, but eventually decided that my favorite beer of the evening was the Irish Red that I have on tap. It's sweeter than it should be, it's very malty, and the WLP004 has left a touch more DMS than I thought it would, but it is very tasty, and very drinkable with a great head and an extreme red Hugh brought by the Crystal 60 and Crystal 80 in the Mash.Fortunately, I decided to hit the basement for a check of progress and airlock levels. When checking stored kegs I found that a keg of Cream Ale had no pressure. It was kegged and carbed weeks ago, but when I unhooked it from the gas, the poppet stuck, but quickly sealed when I pushed on it with my thumb nail. I checked it a few times with a starsan solution and it did not appear to be leaking. I drug it back upstairs, and hooked it to the gas, and again the keg is sound except the leaking poppet when I unhooked the gas. I am glad that I purged the 02 and had it in a stable temperature environment for storage, as I am sure that the beer within is fine. I have it hooked to gas at the moment, and will leave it until the parts show up from Austinhomebrew.com Then if I don't have a place for it, I will swap out the poppet and gas post and we'll be good to go, I suspect that I will be nearly done with the Red by then, and be ready to step right up to the Amber Cream.